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November 2, 2007
The Trip Out West Part XXIX: Beer Bash at Alcatraz
If you are just coming in to the story, and you want to read all the good stuff about my stint in jail, you should really start at The Beginning. (For the newer readers, there's a little bit of sex in there.. Probably a touch of rock & roll. No drugs… well, a little bit of beer.)
When we last left off, Tom and I were in San Francisco. We'd ridden the bus and we'd gone to Chinatown.
At some point we discovered that a person could drink a beer on the streets in San Francisco. This seemed like a cutting-edge idea and Tom and I, always wanting to partake of those things unique to a particular area so that we might better enjoy the color of the local community, thought we'd get a couple.
Well, actually, we thought we'd get a six-pack.
The interesting thing about drinking beer on the street is that you had to drink it out of a little paper bag. It gave the experience an indigent-wino feel.
"Do we need the bag," one of us asked the shopkeeper, "so the police won't know what we're doing?" And yes, in retrospect, it seems like an odd question.
"No," we were told, "the police know exactly what you have in the bag, it's just the rule." The shopkeeper went on to speculate that the bag might be needed so that children didn't see a bunch of people walking around drinking.
Beers in bags in hands and (and four more in a bigger bag), Tom and I hit the street.
We decided to take the tour of Alcatraz Island.
There was a sign on the ferry that took us to Alcatraz which stated that beer could not be taken to the island. Tom and I were pretty sure the sign meant "open beers" and figured the four we had in the bag wouldn't be a problem.
The things I remember about the Alcatraz Island trip are (in no particular order):
- As we got on the boat a guy took our photo. It was developed and waiting for us when we returned to the dock. It was not free.
- We were the only guys on the island with beer.
- We saw the cell Clint Eastwood was in during the filming of Escape from Alcatraz (1979). The guy showing us around said the rest of the cells were not in the same condition of this cell as it had been fixed up a bit for the movie.
- In that cell was a jigsaw puzzle of, what I think is, a French seascape. I'd swear it was the same puzzle I put together and glued to cardboard for extra credit for my 10th grade French class (c. 1975)
I know it's not a lot to remember. I'm sure we saw a lot more of the island.
The artillery piece in the photo on this page is located in Marysville, Ohio. I'm pretty sure it's aimed in such a way that the citizenry of the more-lightly-armed Plain City is careful to mind their P's and Q's.
Posted by delmer at November 2, 2007 10:28 PM
Comments
Are there *any* pictures from this trip?? If there are then I double double dare you to post some!
Posted by: Pen at November 3, 2007 12:07 PM
There may be pictures though I may have lost them in the divorce.
(On another note, I see that IE has hosed by bulleted list ... I'll see if I can fix it.)
Posted by: delmer at November 3, 2007 1:29 PM
Man, if that's the veteran's auditor in that photo, you know they've got it tough!
Posted by: Darrell at November 3, 2007 1:37 PM
Maybe they use the gun to encourage everybody to turn their paperwork in on time.
Posted by: delmer at November 3, 2007 1:47 PM
There used to be a rule forbidding people to drink on the street in my town too, but it was impossible to supervise so now anyone can drink whatever they want anywhere. I definitely think it looks better to drink from the bottle without the bag.
Posted by: Susie at November 3, 2007 4:11 PM
When I was in England it was possible to drink on the street. As a matter of fact I had a bar gal sell me a beer for the road (I was a passenger) and ask if I wanted it open (and, yes I did).
No bags were needed.
Posted by: delmer at November 4, 2007 12:23 AM